The majority of the space in the country is rural.
Yet city beat news reporters don’t venture into rural areas very often. You had some tongue in cheek rural programming shows back in the black and white era of television. Andy of Mayberry, Petticoat Junction, The Waltons, Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies. The small town landscape might be too slow to some. To hard to spin and make into something more exciting for those easily bored. Or seeking shock value or on the edge of your seat suspense. Although, horrow writer Stephen King does live in Maine and many of his works are based on a blend of real and fictional towns in Vacationland.
Next Year’s Wood Pile In Tree Life Form. Ready To Knit On, To Slowly Cut And Split Into Just The Right Stove Lengths. Mainers Stay A Season Ahead With Their Wood Stash.
But these days the average reader, viewer wants to know more about small rural town living in Maine.
They are blown away to know there are places on the Earth where you don’t lock doors. Where folks help you out without a financial gain or notoriety for payment. The local grapevine is all about the locals with a mix of county, state, national and World wide news tossed in for good journalistic balance.
How your old neighbor that was on an operating table for fifteen hours is doing is news, is in our prayers, is a big time concern. There is an intimacy on the small rural Maine landscape because the connection is strong unlike a sea of unknown faces coming at you in rush hour traffic or wall to wall on a crowded sidewalk.
Where you can buy tree length wood for heating your Maine home cheapest. Someone got their full length timber delivered for $135 a cord. To process slowly for next year’s heating season.
Heading To The Kitchen Pantry To Rustle Up Some Christmas Meal Dishes. Planning Something Big This Year?
Which is the best wood pellet stove as you head into winter in Maine another topic this time of year. And warming a home with heat pumps and the interrogation with someone who spent the money to find out first hand. It happens down at the local hardware or corner grocery or in the chit chat after church or a kid’s sporting event.
We Mainers have an inquiring mind and gots to know. Before parting with hard earned money without the research needed to make an intelligent decision. And when we do make a hard thought over purchase for a good or service, there is no beating ourselves up later for with second thoughts. No maybe we should have gone another direction after all. Because the decision made was the best with the knowledge we had at the time. The facts, just the facts. And thinking, adapting along the way to keep things moving and kept from going backwards.
Easy Does, Everyone Is Not Strung Out, Including The Animals. Plenty Of Elbow Room, Living Space Does That! Get To Maine For A Sample.
The news from down at the snow sled or VFW, American Legion, Elks Club. It travels fast and is pretty accurate.
Even with the passing it on and where you would think something gets lost in translation with each passing it on with the 5 W’s. The newspapers used to be thicker and more lathered with journalistic ink. But advertising dollars shrunk as the Internet added more exposure, longer shelf time in a highly efficient ROI of time and money.
So with urban living becoming more expensive, fraught with danger and just no space in the race though life. The search for local news, the insider’s perspective in Maine is gaining popularity. Especially with high speed Internet becoming more prominent and far reaching. You don’t have to live without room around you. You can have low cost acreage, no neighbor in sight if that is the goal for personal living space. Waterfront to hog all to yourself too. Can you say that in an urban setting or would someone ask what are you smoking? Our news is not about gangs or drive by shootings either. We don’t have affordable housing supply problems either. Lots of cheap land in Maine too own a patch of dirt, to stop renting and start owning something built from the ground up.
Small Maine newspapers also have guest appearances for weekly local “reporters” in far reaching bedroom communities. These gratis photo journalists take great pride in delivering the freshest, most complete local news from their corner of the Maine rural countryside. Images taken and submitted to the local paper, a sports score or vote from a follow up small town council debate. Those all get relayed from out in the rural outpost willy wags to share with the tight knit local population opening up the newsprint. Or tapping into the latest news signal on a variety of means.
Longing for more simple living, lower cost of living and friendly experiences with your friends and neighbors? Just talk with a local, who is like a news stringer for the local beat. More than Maine farm news and weather discussed. It is not like the old television series Hee Haw with Buck Owens and the Buckaroos. The picking and grinning in the corn fields with Minnie Pearl with the hat with the bird, fruit, price tag hanging off it. Salute.
Isn’t it time? Haven’t you heard enough to entice you to travel north for a look see? Maine, don’t keep her waiting. Come check her out and just try to stay away once those heart strings get a strong tug.
When you put the city life in the rear view mirror, the transition to small town Maine presents many twists and turns.
The lower cost of living is one of the primary perks. And easy adjustment like no crime, no traffic and being able to see the stars at night because no light pollution. There is a shift from impersonal to live and local connection. An enhanced sense of being pulled in. Feeling more involved, part of the small town life where in the urban setting, you can get lost in the sea of sidewalk blank faces. But the strain on the wallet lightens up in rural Vacationland. Even in Maine, the difference from a house for sale in say Portland or up yonder in Aroostook County weighs in over 62% of the cost of the roof over your head. So markets within the market distinctions creep up to help you figure out where you are best off to land in the resettlement.
Maine Lake Loons. They Stay Off Shore, Serenade, Keep To Themselves.
What else is there to prepare for when your new home address is one zip code that covers many townships?
Where one lonely area code for phone calls serves the entire big state of Maine sparse population. Well, you examine your priorities. You have less choices in some of the retail areas, but way way more options for the no or low cost recreational what you do for fun.
When you need an electrician, a plumber, someone to fix your car or furnace, get ready to be patient. You can not let your fingers do the walking in the yellow pages to locate a never ending supply of technicians. The best ones are busy. You plan to hit many projects as the first one out of the gate in the spring. This applies to the hired out building a home. Or you postpone some expensive projects until mid winter. When folks are caught up and looking for work. Especially inside labor to carry the cost of living in small town Maine.
The Bees Are Busy Pollinating The Maine Potato Fields In Summer.
You also become more adept at tackling a greater share of what needs to be done in your life.
Because getting started is better than waiting and although it takes you longer on new experiences testing your DIY skills, you end up finishing about the same time who you wanted to have do the job is freed up to show up and perform their magic.
There is not an slew of options for the pick of the pack, best of the bunch in anything in small town Maine circles. You appreciate what you have and are grateful, content, developing lasting joy. Happy happens summer or winter or spring or fall. The season matters not. And with medical, often, there is room for 1.5 of the specially trained doctors and not quite two professionals. There is strength hidden in population numbers as they grow and allow more to sign on in the employment ranks.
Why People Pick Maine For Low Cost Property, The Wide Open Space.
What you do for fun in small towns is usually out in the country. Nature captures the heart, pulls on its strings in our traditions. You protect, become a good steward that is respectful of Mother Nature and all the wildlife too. Often what is entertaining involves the fresh air and clean water, lush smells of the woods in the great outdoors. The four seasons make each visit to the outdoor venue that refreshes best to have a slightly different take away.
Visit a lighthouse in Maine in the winter, when no tourists are toting cameras or talking or sharing the setting.
You will see what a difference the experience is when it is just you to hog it all to yourself. Try that in a city setting. You can not get away from the people. There just is so little space and often a park or two is all you get to share. And don’t forget Canada, our neighbor where many in the crowd over home are related. No, it is not dangerous being this close to Canada here in Maine. People actually ask that.
And many of the festivals or seasonal celebrations are bigger but fewer. Not offered year round but everything banked on one big memorable day or portion of a calendar week to showcase it. Maybe we have more choices but in from a revolving conveyor belt delivery as the seasons change. You see a lot more home grown and one of a kind mom and pop places as opposed to franchise sameness too in small town Maine living. You witness more use of bikes, horses, and using your imagination in backyards in small towns than behind locked security doors inside, many stories up in a city landscape.
Baxter Park, Have You Hiked Any Of The Peaks? Been To The Top Of Mt Katahdin, Maine’s Highest Elevation? How Many Times?
You feel the sunshine, are more aware of weather in small rural towns. Because you plan to be out in it, not under a roof or between four walls.
Meeting places, they are the corner gas and grab to go pizza joints. Or in the aisles of the local IGA, Surefine or Shop N Save, Shaws or County Yankee groceries. At school gym or playing field sporting functions, in the back of the church or near the snacks after the service. Or sitting on an open porch as folks do more walking than driving when in a small Maine town. And stop to talk as they climb up the porch steps to ask about each other’s family members. And how things are down at work.
Whatever is new in town or what is playing at the small movie theatre or maybe a drive in flick gets discussed at this week’s friendly meeting . Or re-visiting something in the newsprint from a few weeks back for a local topic that is a concern to all taxpayers in the small Maine town. Comparing notes in an ongoing conversation only folks in the small town or region of the county would feel strongly about that would not interest the city mouse. Discover Northern Maine. Sample Downeast Maine. You get to witness something rare, special, not commercial spun or for profit. The list of places we try to highlight in this home grown Me In Maine blog post series.
Sitting in the center of town, or in a common parking lot for those new and old that can drive.
Waving to other motorists. Holding doors open to businesses. Smiling comes easy. As the sun sits, the weekend arrives. Sliding into the angled parking spaces and removing the glass in the window to say hello. To begin where they left off the last meeting talking back and forth from inside a car or SUV or pick up truck. Maybe one pair of car occupants get out, get in the back seat of the neighboring one. Snow sled, ATV four wheeler trails cause groups to gather at club houses along the route too. Where pot luck suppers and fund raisers with incredible spreads happen. Those fill the belly and take care of the need to be social, to feel apart of the local community in small town rural Maine towns.
The tourists who wander into your small Maine town.
Looking to see a Maine moose, dine on lobster or a bucket of steamed clams. To get a t-shirt or nick nack labeled Maine. There is more that your Maine tourist is after after they cross the big green bridge on the south end of the Pine Tree State. The shift from cookie cutter tourist traps with all the franchises, a sea of sameness is not what your traveler is after these days. Too many other places peddling that out there in the wild blue yonder. Slinging the hash with the same tired buzz lines on pick me, pick me to vacation.
Small Rural Maine Communities. The Lifestyle Day To Day, Culture And Heritage Are What Tourist Travelers Want To Sample.
Unique, fresh, real is sought after in every experience all of us seek out today right? Like watching re-runs, something new and different always trumps same old same old. Give me something new and different please.
Maine is all over “it is not like this anywhere else.” You’ve heard the slogan “Maine, the way life should be.” So preserving, capitalizing on the small Maine town rural lifestyle. What makes the small community special and stand out. It starts with the locals realizing how lucky they are to just live full time in a low crime, little traffic setting. With all this natural unspoiled beauty and friendly helpful people. There is an intimate connection in a small Maine town where folks work together to create the sense of community. People wave, smile, help out and know “if it is to be, it is up to me.”.
It is not like that in a city back drop where eye contact and personal interaction is avoided at all costs. Where underlying fear is just part of the stress of living with all these people in your face. Trying to negotiate a crowded sidewalk face with a sea of faces coming at you in all directions like asteroids. And road rage. Those hand gestures are not waves.
What’s the best way to create the local home town pride re-energized?
Two weeks of therapeutic living in a blighted urban population center. Get on the bus, round up the locals of Maine, make the wheels go round and round. Jam lots of people way way too close together in a smelly, noisy, too many shadows of a cold, not so friendly concrete jungle and watch out. Stand back. See what happens as tempers flare, respect is lost and personal living space is invaded. Then bring back those transplanted rural locals from the shell shocking of the city living. They won’t forget the contrast and count their blessings on what we do have, what we don’t that makes Maine a jewel. And the locals will be grounded. To begin again to count the reasons why they are country mice in rural Maine small towns. And making it fun, affordable, casual for those visiting it. Maine fun is outdoors. Low or no cost once you get here. That is what the high cost of living vacationers with strapped out of town finances want. What overbooked, worrisome travelers seek to unplug and recharge when they dial in the relaxation mode considering Maine.
Like anywhere, there are Mainers who will bitch and complain about everything from the weather to the cost of tea in China. Not the buzz to relay, not the signal to send to attract a tourist best. To convey the notion that this place is worth spending some time and money. Deep down in the gray matter they call themselves died in the wool Mainers with a strong constitution. To tackle anything coming down the pike. But they forget why they live here due to discouragement that dims the resiliency. Some natives just resist change as they cling to the past as they growing older.
What We Do For Fun, Tourist Want To Tap Into The Local Community Lifestyle That Is Refreshingly Real And Natural.
When you grew up and enjoyed prosperity in a small Maine town. Then erosion happen to the simple way of life. And you witness the hustling, bustling, thriving small Maine town rural economies drying up. Combined with the cost of living escalating. It is easy to lament and have a pity party. To wonder what happened.
Some habitually start to whine without knowing it. And without adapting, re-tooling mentally to approach the local economy differently. It is easy to forget what you liked than made you stay in the small Maine community. And when some of those elements are missing you can start humming the should I stay or should I go Clash song.
Where to put the energies collectively as a small rural Maine town, to be a good ambassador to the area.
Beat the drum loudly. What you want, what your tourist is after. It’s not always a topic where agreement on testy topics scores very high. What you want to see take place in a small Maine town may not be realistic. Due to small numbers in the population to underwrite expenses. And the need to have volume to monetize the endeavor. Everything runs on a business chassis and the small Maine town economy is no different. Otherwise, last guy or gal out shut off the lights on Main Street in small downtown communities.
Remember the joy of life as a kid on a school recess yard playing? Getting along and having fun should not be lost on youth. Our adult attitude, thinking about putting your best foot forward and preserving what we do have to brag up. Making a list. Preaching and seeing to it that everyone is promoting the same local attractions. Getting excited first yourself so it oozes out in all you say, do, fell. Adding to the list with anything missing that your tourist is after. Not just what you want but what they seek that other areas offer. Capitalize on that. What f you were in the moccasins of a new to the area, passing through your burg tourist. Become that character in the local audience.
Nothing like a steady flow of tourist dollars into the local coffers to improve a small Maine town community. As long as the down home simple nature of the small Maine town is not totally revamped. And the live and local is lost in the process.
No Walls, No People, All Real And Natural. Bask In That Vacationing In Maine. That’s What Attracts Maine Tourists.
The winds of change, what is today’s traveler to Maine now after?
What they have lost in their area and is no longer seen. An experience with agri-tourism is part of the splash. Heritage tourism. Re-living the past in farmers museums part of the show and tell to someone brand new to the area of Maine where you hail. The rich folklore of lumber camps, timbering vast forests when timber was king. The fishing and hunting haunts. The recreational trails of Maine that dot the map need to be easily found, heavily promoted. Interstate connections have to be as strong as possible for the tourist to stay in touch online.
Attracting Maine tourists. The natural lure to tangle and tease is the eye candy imagery. Promoting outdoor natural activities like a river canoe or kayak race that just don’t happen in pollution centers. Where the crowd of people have to spend their time staying safe, their heads above water financially paying for this, that and the simmering stress demanding some vegging out time in Maine. Where it can be so quiet that you do hear yourself think. Where wildlife habitats can soothe the stings and scars of the price paid for city living. That does not come without a cost.
The local food, the yarn stories shared with tourists about how the local turf runs, how the small Maine town got to this point along the way. History of the area is rich and rewarding if shared with a local person to person. Not a few lines machined and printed on the four color brochure that was not written by a local resident of the small Maine town. Tell me, show me why you live in the small Maine town. Let the tourist consider if they did and they will return when treated like they already live here. Brag up big wigs who for years have trot trotted from Boston and beyond to Maine.
Getting into the habit of really wanting to help the brand new to the community tourist. The ones who ask for directions or to get the insider tip on where is a good place to eat, to stay. Answering the “what do you do for fun” question with a slew of suggestion for the traveling through your area tourist. Give him or her, their families reasons for hanging around.
By saying and meaning it sincerely after you provide the local information. With a smile, “I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in my corner of Maine.” A good habit if you really believe to have friends you need to be one. So the stranger is not one for long because of a gracious glad you are here feeling conveyed to them. That shows you the local are pretty darn happy and you know it. Clap you hands. Stamp your feet. (Now that song is stuck in a loop in your head. S0 sorry. Really)
It’s never been a better time to be a small rural Maine community that steps it up to attract more tourism dollars. Heck the bottom of the Maine license plate made at the state prison is the black and white reminder. “Vacationland” is thee nickname of Maine for a good reason, adopted many moons ago.
The Old Traditions Should Be Preserved And Promoted. Small Maine Towns Don’t Benefit From Forgetting Their Cultural Roots Which Helps The Tourism Dollars Bottom Line.
What made, still makes the small Maine town great? It takes critical thinking and getting ready for tourism to help the process along. And not trying to make the rural, sparsely populated placed thrown into the ring. To go toe to toe with a larger city approach to tourism. We are not in the same weight class and compete different. We hold different marketing cards to play in the game of tourist attraction. That many other small Maine towns are around the same poker table. After those same tourists to come see ME, my area of Maine.
We did have a number of Phish concerts in Northern Maine at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone. But to attract those kinds of numbers to shake and grove to Maine on a large B-52 size runway through out the year is probably not realistic. Chalk Dust Torture in the winter with hands overhead swaying even with legalized pot is not going to happen.
Discussions locally on what we should be pushing for and what would or not work can go poorly. If you disagree and point out why. Not everyone respects your difference of opinion when discouraged and looking for a quick fix. A bandaid for a gunshot wound. Because they see the small Maine town as something it is not. Instead of what it is capable of sustaining with manpower and dwindling available dollars. Where the small town or regional area of Maine could shine brightly if a different, collectively agreed upon direction is taken. It takes many late night meetings and heated discussions. A plan Stan that gets launched and modified with tweaks along the way.
Jack Dempsey, Ted Williams, Teddy Roosevelt, Stephen King, Martha Stewart, The Bushes On The Compound At Walker’s Point. Lots Of Celebrities Pick Maine For Fun And Casual Vacationing. Play That Card In The Tourism Promotion.
Don’t wait for government to fix it or adjust the “sales” to foster more Maine tourism. It takes individual grass roots effort on the local level to step up and take on the volunteering. You have to have the locals buying in and knowing leadership is on the right path.
To invest in small tourism-fueled businesses to make the Maine rural town a destination starts with what are your strengths and weaknesses. What are you selling. And not for the entire vacation week or long weekend of the tourist. But partnering with other areas. To catch the traveler coming and going.
Maine is lucky to be next door to Canada, to make it a two nation vacation. Local food, local attractions and a connection to the lifestyles of local people is what they want. They get bored if they don’t get fed that. Share the tourist and building their trip with other in-state and out of country partners over home eh? To get them to return for more. It is more than one visit we are after right boys and girls? Make it a habit. Let the tug on the heartstrings of Maine be a strong one. That vacation falls in love with Maine’s allure hook, line and sinker. And does not care at all that they are powerless to stay away from her charms.
Know House Thomaston Maine Is One Big Residence With Rich History, Plenty Of Bedrooms.
They like it, they love it, they want some more of it like the song suggest. They don’t know why but the small town promoting it’s best features does.
The traveling tourist want to see the small rural towns, handful of cities in Maine the way they are. Putting on the tourism goggle to see the local area the way someone who has never been here before does. That critical look through the lens makes it clear where to push the tourism promotion levers.
If we already have visitors coming to fish, bike, hike, hunt, river raft, and relax, keep banging the drum geared for that audience segment. Keep spreading the word and tapping the social media channels about wildlife, clean water, fresh air and all this natural four season space.
Without that tourism lens put on, though, it is easy to miss the value and opportunity of the traffic that outdoor recreation already generates. To see the subtle differences all the areas of Maine offer to the tourist. Like what happens when you venture into say Downeast Maine. The culture, heritage and real day to day not something spun or artificial slick is what the Griswald’s are after to experience on a family vacation to Maine.
Small town living In Maine, how does it different than be surrounded by people in an impersonal city setting?
There are so many differences. Ask people what they like most about small Maine town living and nine times out of ten the answer is the connection. With others living in that small Maine town.
Day Is Done In Maine. Fresh Rain, Sunset Sunshine Combine With The Wild Flower Fragrance.
There is an intimacy, a bond because smaller means folks know your name in small Maine towns.
As a kid, the village raises their young. Kids feel like they matter, that they are to be heard and guided. The young in our small Maine towns are our greatest resource. Everyone takes pride in following their accomplishments in the local Maine newspapers. The online social media images and captions don’t go unnoticed. And some of the kids are related, family.
In small Maine towns, how great the community is depends on the roll up your sleeves and pitch in to get done whatever you have talents to do.
Volunteering, community service is huge in small Maine towns. Because without it, there is not the money to hire it down. And the take away would not be the fierce pride that home grown creates over store bought. The talents of the small Maine town is off the charts and there is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer. That goes above and beyond and not for the recognition. Because they were built for the task and when they look behind them, there is not a long line of others to step up and take their place.
Small Maine towns have a tiny population.
Fresher Lobster Than This? Only What’s Still Underwater, Swimming Along The Maine Ocean Floor.
Cover a vast area of woods, farm fields, lots of acreage. Salt and peppered with wildlife of all kinds, clean lakes, wide open space but not a lot of people. Eight out of ten people live in a city but not because they want to, just consider they have to for specialized employment. To make career financial objectives.
But the cost of living in a city compared to a small town is staggering. You make lots, you spend even more and stress from crime, traffic, just a lack of space all takes its toll. You pay for parking. Hope your car is there when you return.
We don’t even lock doors in Maine. Everything locked up tighter than a drum with dead bolts, chains, security cameras and chain link fencing in a city. There are neighborhoods you don’t venture into and live in a steady level of low and sometimes high level fear. If you travel and set your tent stakes in the suburbs and end up commuting than it means you miss out greatly. You don’t get home in time to tuck the kids in, to hear their prayers. To weigh in and trade your day experiences around the family dinner table conversation. You are missing in action. You leave early, arrive home late. Nice house, you just are never there much.
If you are thinking of the best environment to raise a family, small town living in Maine is hand’s down the right choice.
If you want to someday own your real estate and be free and clear of mortgage debt, small town Maine community living wins again. The lack of permits for everything under the sun, because Maine is the 4th lowest crime state means less worry about the cost of living, personal safety.
Smaller population means less options for spending your money.
Cities are fun to visit, not so much fun to call home. And maneuvering around all those people, through the toll highways, even with mass transits means time is wasted waiting to get from “A” to “B” and back.
Maine’s Pure, Natural, Fun Waterways. Tap Into Them. Protect And Preserve Them.
The shift happens from buying everything to doing more and more on your own when you consider small town living. You develop talents to fix this, build that and bartering happens in small Maine towns. Someone knows someone that is good at this, and you have something for a talent or skill to exchange for the service. The IRS might not like it, but the swap involves no money that is taxable.
Who would not want to get more for less?
Raising your own food, slow cooking it and taking the time to enjoy your front porch, the open deck and being a part of the community. That is what small town living in Maine is about and with a backdrop as drop dead gorgeous as Vacationland, keep your money in your wallet or purse. The cost for most of the fun recreational options when you live in Maine full time is no or very very low cost. You live in a place that many have to settle for one measly long weekend, maybe if you are luck a full week a year. That’s it to squeeze and savor the joy of living in small town Maine. And that’s all she wrote.
What are the other benefits of living in a small Maine town?
Try getting sick in a city, see how many people turn out to help you with your smallest tasks around your house. To organize a benefit supper to help you carry the burden of household and medical expenses when you get sick. People come out of the woodwork in small Maine towns to show they care and really help out when a person needs it the most.
Outdoors, That’s Where People Hang Out In Maine.
Clean resources, the air and water are not messed up in Maine. The overhead night sky is black velvet backed in Maine with a million stars that you just don’t see when light pollution and smog erase them. And when you better keep your wits about you, mind your P’s and Q’s avoiding a fender bender, tangling with a gang in a bad neighborhood. You miss out on the little things that don’t exist but that make a small Maine town shine brightly.
Living in a city is anonymous. In small towns, people look out for their neighbors and rally around the needs of anyone living in the small Maine community.
Because small town living means you have a greater involvement in the community, there is a deeper stake in the village. Because you helped build it, maintain it and add to whatever you step forward and sign up for as your contribution. A great stake in the small town happens because you are hands on and would be missed if gone. Everyone in a small Maine town has a vital role no matter how big or small. Like a family, you feel needed, loved, and have a role in a small Maine town. Whatever you do is appreciated and so much is done behind the scenes that does not get press. And no one is seeking the attention from recognition done from the heart not to gain fame or notoriety.
Small towns don’t have the financial resources to just underwrite events.
The small town communities organize collectively what they offer to the local area. They get resourceful, creative. There is small town talent that gets center stage and tapped into, not just big name headliners brought to the area to entertain. With high speed internet, telecommuting can happen in small Maine towns too. Work online, out of state but enjoy the perks of living in a Victorian home, a farmstead you build over yourself or on the waterfront for a song. And have money left over for other areas of your life because you are not house poor.
Happy? I Guess. Drove Hard To Win, Place In The Top Eight For Maine’s State Soap Box Derby Race In Houlton ME.
Retirement on a fixed income makes Maine one attractive location. You can give back and serve the local community and enjoy stretching those lower monthly retirement funds to stretch and maximize. There are quality health care facilities, churches, libraries, unique local shopping options where you know the owner in the store. Folks wave at you. Smile, notice and talk to you on the way in and out of the post office.
Kids have teachers where it is not just a job for the paycheck. It is their passion, their contribution to the small Maine town. Not for the money, for the reward that you made a difference in a child’s life and the direction your helping hand guidance added to the young members of your local community. You don’t have one or two mentors in small Maine towns. There are hundreds rooting for you. Your coach, pastor, family members are teaching you the right pathway lessons for life. When you are a kid fortunate to be raised in a small Maine town. Helping local farmers, be responsible with after school and summer jobs. You are not a latch key kid alone with no one home to help raise you in small Maine towns. People care, are hand’s on and involved in raising all the kids in small Maine towns.
Small town living means thinking of the greater good and not number one who you brush your teeth with daily looking back at you in the mirror.
There is a deeper commitment in a small Maine town that struggles and has challenges to stay afloat. You are not just a city transient working your way up the career ladder. Your civic, social involvement completes something inside when you serve on local level small town capacities. You are more aware of the local history, you are deeper meshed in the local community landscape.
If you were lucky enough to live, be raised in a small Maine town, it is preaching to the choir. But if you have never sampled small town Maine living, what are you waiting for, head north. Get to Maine and see what has been missing, why Maine is the way life should be.
The attitude of the locals, sure Maine comedians try to exaggerate the Downeast slant that at times takes a different angle on day to day life in Vacationland.
Like the Purple Clam video blogged about earlier if you drop in for the hit or miss on the post stream. Hit the Downeast hyper link above. The friggin’ clam is determined not to be trapped in the wire basket with the handle. He frustrates and wears out the digger down a finger on one hand. Who has a score to settle on the mud flats near the blueberry barrens of Maine.
Free Of Layers Of Players, Maine Simple Living Means Reduce, Reuse, Conserve.
But how someone appears to sweet or sour sound in conversation and what they really feel deep down inside don’t always match up in the ballistics test review.
We all know being around someone that is toxic can suck the air out of the room. That bitching, complaining can be contagious and a nasty habit. Discouragement and slow to change thinking to adapt to new economic situations can mire a person who just gets weighed down too heavily.
Overloaded worrisome thinking means head to the hills of Maine. For some control, alternate, delete. The nature trail of fresh air and clean running water that regains a healthy perspective. Does a body and mind good. A positive outlook always gets a person through the day best.
So the spell when a rural small Maine town gets challenged to revamp how it rocks and rolls.
Paper or lumbering mill communities have the biggest economic hangover. Farming with hops and the scramble to get in on the ground floor of pot creates a buzz. The increase of younger micro farm producers has caused a stir in both the organic and conventional agriculture sides of Maine field operations.
Slow to change means dying on the vine, bleeding out and look Mom, no more small dot on the Maine Gazatteer atlas map.
Banding together for consolidation and reduction of duplication of services started years ago. Late night meetings into the wee hours to discuss the limited choices. Plenty of time to get used to the idea of inevitable change and the right direction in the tough choices has already happened. To avoid deorganization and surrender of identity to one of the sixteen counties that absorb the townships, plantations that become township this, range that auto piloted one level up the government food chain pay grade.
The Peace And Quiet In Maine. Unplug, Recharge, Get Your Head Screwed On Straight.
Unfortunately the quickest way to turn the wagons around on the way into a box canyon is to be bankrupt on resources. So no more delay or talking solutions to death without implementing necessary steps ceases. Unfortunately “We’re out of money” is the quickest way to cause change instead of hoping each department or program administrator pulls themselves out of the local mud collectively.
Doing the right thing for the greater good means letting go, not looking over the shoulder waiting for Augusta Maine legislators and the Governor to come to the rescue.
These are the good old days twenty years from now looking back. The talk about “they need to this, that” discussion and pointing at leaders six feet under pushing up daisies wastes precious time. You and I are “they”. For the lead, follow or get out of the way.
Tradition, Wearing Wool Snow Caps Flipping Burgers And Pancakes. Maine Has Distinctive Eateries.
So when you vacation in Maine, as you head deeper into Vacationland away from the tourist traps, you see rugged individuals.
Polished smooth by hard time and perseverance. Experiences not taught in a classroom. These salt of the Earth individuals that work, live, play in small Maine landscapes. They are dependable, constant and never waiver. Not fickle fair weather friends but friends for life.
That have a few more facial lines than most and not from laughter but concern. And plenty of outdoor weather exposure in all kinds of elements. The desire for more jobs so our young don’t have to be the number one export is on the minds of all. And the need to stay positive and brainstorm to creatively hammer out the best solutions to keep small Maine towns more than just afloat. But to prosper and grow takes patience and sharp tongues that are silenced with duct tape over the pie holes. Best case scenarios solutions to real problems and not personal attacks is the only approach small Maine town populations can adopt.
Get excited, not discouraged. Be part of the solution, not the problem that need a common plan that the majority of locals can believe in to tackle the issues.
Small Maine towns, which is the majority of the population centers scattered around Vacationland, all celebrate Christmas like one big family.
The school bus drivers know which kids have a hard home life. Collect the extra food to bound down the steps of the school bus. Paced with love and care in a back pack to make sure Christmas includes good food.
Merry Christmas From Small Town Maine. Rich In Traditions, Shared At Family Gatherings.
While local churches in Maine hang the Christmas gift pleas for the congregation to take.
To buy for an unknown boy that is eight and likes Lego building toys. Or a teen age daughter that could use a warm pair of boots. Secret Santas, there are a slew of them in small Maine towns. Helping without calling attention to the local elves pulling off the behind the scenes to make the season bight. To lend a helping hand to make sure Christmas happens in town and out in the country for the local residents.
I ran into a lady who’s Mom and family picked potatoes for my Dad back in the 1960’s.
Christmas Light Parades To Say Hello To Santa Who Tours Maine Small Towns.
I asked her what was the best Christmas she could remember and she said her first year in her own house, to celebrate with her own family. I asked her as a child, which one stood out. She said the one when she was ten and was not sure if Christmas was going to happen or not. Her parents had a tough year with a big family and struggled with making the household financial ends to meet.
But with the help of friends, family and neighbors, who all pulled together, she remembers the best Christmas ever.
Hunger improves the taste and to her surprise what seemed unlikely to happen because of being strapped financially as a family turned out other wise. The miracle of giving, opening hearts and making sure no one goes without in the local community. Because in small Maine towns, there is a strong connection. We help each other, our lives run in smaller circles that over lap and the grapevine helps whisper the needs that need addressing. SHhhhhh. Pass it on.
Sea Food For Christmas? SURE! Lobster Not Just Stuffed Roasted Birds, Prime Rib Or Ham Are Always Welcome At The Christmas Eve / Day Dinner Table.
Your own personal family traditions for Christmas? Candle light church services, school musicals with Up On the House Top Click Click … oh oh. There go some more roof shingles. And reindeer games, took out the guy wire securing the antennae to pull in the few television stations we have in Maine and across the border to over home, into near by Canada.
Food, always part of the celebration with family and friends. Dishes your mom whipped up with her eyes closed and so tasty.
Mocca balls, coconut clusters, date filled cookies, divinity fudge, fruit cake and nut rolls. Forget the calories, keep the phone number for the gym to tap out after the season ends. Being on a diet prior to Christmas and until the noise makers are put away with the empties of party juice at New Year’s is a steep uphill battle.
Oyster stews, lasagna, hams, turkeys, pies of all kind. What do you remember as a kid besides ribbon candle and peanut
Small Maine Town Christmas Light Parades Welcome Santa, Entertain The Little And Old Alike.
brittle among the ho ho ho? Playing Hearts happen on Christmas Eve in our house hold by the glow of the Christmas tree. With Andy Williams, Ray Conniff, Perry Como, and others belting out the old Christmas standards.
Pass the egg nog and more shrimp cocktail for me? Yes please. Don’t want to appear to be a hog. But just being social and not wanting to hurt the cook’s feelings. Grandmothers wear the biggest grins when you reach for seconds, thirds or more helpings of what they live to put on the table for a holiday spread. Nothing store bought or from a bakery or deli. Everything from a family recipe that was served up at every Christmas family celebration bar none.
If you moved to another venue for Christmas Eve or the 25th Day vittles, would the menu change from lobster or crab, prime rib, grilled steaks of all kinds? Would you have fiddle heads if preparing to eat out in the Midwest, the other coast or in the Florida pan handle?
Or a Maine baked potato if sitting down, pushing in the table chair in Idaho or Oregon? Not a lot of rice dishes served up in the potato country of Northern Maine. Pass the green bean casserole please. Is that cranberry sauce over there by Grandma? And I’ll pass on the jello with the carrots, pineapple and whatever else got sifted and folded into the jiggle and wiggle. But ambrosia, save some for me. The food of the Gods with those cherries, whipped cream, pure heaven.
Heading To The Kitchen Pantry To Rustle Up Some Christmas Meal Dishes. Planning Something Big This Year?
The extras beyond stuffing from the bird, the bread and butter pickles, real whipped potatoes, other veggies like butternut or acorn or blue hubbard squash.
Boiled, pearl creamy onions, turnip, home made gravy and breads, rolls, biscuits. Speaking of turnips, ask a Mainer if a rutabaga is different and how? If you are on the coast of Maine, seafood, fish takes up a big portion of the serving platters. It’s what’s for dinner all twelve of the months on the kitchen calendar in a Maine coastal household.
Whatever you eat, have planned, don’t forget the round guy with red velvet and white fur, flying deer who is working over time. Beyond his pay grade to make the season bright for kids of all ages without all of our help if you still believe. A carrot or two for the eight reindeer, a sugar cookie, brownie and ice cold milk for the red faced sleigh master driver. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. A video of Santa touching down in the Aroostook County recently.
Here’s wishing you the best for the New Year! From all the Maine towns that put the extra effort to celebrate the reason for the season beyond the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
